WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday the launch of a whistleblower program offering Americans up to $30,000 for tips that lead to fraud convictions or significant federal enforcement actions.
The $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program will reward tipsters whose information leads to a successful fraud conviction or a “significant federal enforcement action.”
“This is so big and so important, and there’s never been anything like it,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We will not let our country be looted and plundered by thieves and pirates and foreign fraudsters and basically scum.”
A White House official said the program is intended to encourage independent journalists and members of the public to report suspected fraud.
“If you turn somebody in and let’s say you find a billion dollars, we are giving a commission to that person of 1%. It’s a lot of money,” Trump said. The White House has said individual awards under the program are capped at $30,000.
During the Tuesday afternoon announcement, the president presented a check for $10,000 to Nick Shirley, a YouTuber who published viral videos alleging widespread fraud at Somali-run daycares in Minnesota. Shirley’s videos prompted FBI and Department of Homeland Security law enforcement surges in Minnesota, the White House official said, which resulted in “several investigations, arrests, and new charges.”
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“Nick is going to get a financial reward for doing so,” Vance said. “I know that’s not why he did it, but to Americans across the country, your tax dollars are being stolen, and your tax dollars are being stolen from programs that help feed the needy, that help ensure that a young mom who can’t afford a doctor can get access to a doctor for her kids. It steals from the very social fabric of the United States of America.”
Fahima Mahamud, the former CEO of a day care center that the White House says was featured in Shirley’s video, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump and Shirley also quipped about the infamous Minneapolis learning center whose misspelled sign became a symbol of the fraud scandal.
“Nick has been at the forefront of the battle to stop the horrible plague that’s happened within our country,” Trump said of the Gen Z YouTuber.
The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan asked Trump whether he was concerned that a future Democratic administration could target reporters or others who exposed fraud. Trump said he would use his presidential pardon power to protect people he believed had been treated unfairly. “If I have to use it to protect people like Nick, I’d use it very openly, very gladly,” he said.
The new program will be administered by the Department of Justice, a White House official said. Americans can submit tips through fraud.gov.
“Every day, President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on the rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told The Daily Wire. “This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans.”
In August, the White House launched the website to expose the fraud that Vance’s task force has uncovered, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“The Fraud Ledger” highlights the work of the “Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,” focusing on three measures reported by each partner agency: fraud uncovered, fraud stopped, and fraud enforcement. It is designed to be a “public record of the fraud, waste, and corruption identified” by the task force since January 2025.
“Fraud uncovered” refers to estimates of total fraud identified through data and statistical methods; “fraud stopped” refers to annual spending prevented by the administration’s actions; and “fraud enforcement” refers to the money involved in indictments, settlements, or civil monetary penalties.
Since January 2025, the task force has uncovered $260 billion in estimated fraud, according to the website. The site also credits the task force with stopping $72 billion in annual fraud and reports enforcement actions involving $58.9 billion through indictments and settlements.
My question to POTUS this afternoon: what happens if a Democrat takes office after Trump and decides to target Nick Shirley or reporters who investigated fraud in blue states?
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 20, 2026
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